Bilge worries

I realized that I'm doing more posting about where we went and who was on board, and part of the reason I wanted to blog about Hideaway was to document my learning process. 

Last week, when we went aboard, the bilge was full of water. Definitely salty so couldn't have been from the modest rain we had earlier in the week. It definitely has me a little worried. I'm going to go check on her tomorrow and no plans to take the boat out this weekend. 

I think it's just that the fuses had flipped on the boat. That may be because of dirty shore power or an overload of some type. I really don't know. 

But I left the boat getting power working again and tested the bilge to ensure it was in working order when I closed up for the week. So fingers crossed all is well. 

Even more practice

I like this every Sunday cadence for more sailing practice. I am learning by doing, although I definitely still want the structured classes at Tradewinds I have on credit but not yet scheduled.  

Great day and decent winds. I kept the diesel on in case and that may sound wimpy but until I'm confident in my sailing skills, it actually proves useful. Like when the Oakland ferry or a barge has right of way in a narrow part of the channel. I could heave to and wait but putting it in gear and pulling forward gets us out of the estuary faster. 

Once we made it out into Bay, we were heeling significantly and my kid was not at all comfortable. But she stuck it out by digging fingernails into her auntie. Better her than me. 

Overall a good day and good company. Our nephew joined us for the first time, too, and proved to be good crew. 

A little more practice on a sunny day

Last Sunday, my daughter and I were joined by our friends, and my salty dog sailing mentor, my wife's uncle. A beautiful day. We motored out the estuary and it always takes an hour to get to a sail worthy location where it widens by Coast Guard Island. Then I worked the port winch and Uncle Salty the starboard one, while my buddy took the wheel. The wind was modest at best. We only sailed for a half hour or so, but we navigated around a container ship being tugged in a circle to turn around. I took the wheel as we squeezed by, and I learned one important lesson. That tug boat prop wash will slide a 35' sailboat sideways 10' in a heartbeat. We were pretty close to a NOAA ship in dry dock, but bough room to maneuver around. 

Then we returned, sealed up the boat, and went to Quinn's Lighthouse restaurant and bar. A bit of a wind (ironically) meant it was chilly on the upstairs balcony. But the food and company was good. A fun day. 

Can't Motor Without Water

Yesterday, I took my daughter and my wife's Uncle Thom (who is generally the sailing mentor being an old salty dog) out into the estuary to practice motoring and docking. All was going well for the first hour. 

Then we picked up two sort-of cousins who are staying with Thom to motor further down towards Jack London Sq. About a half hour later and past two draw bridges, I heard the tone of the motor exhaust change. Checking for water coming out the back, and not seeing any, I immediately killed the Yanmar. Luckily we were in a relatively wide part of the channel and even though there was a slight tide, there wasn't much wind at all so we didn't have to put in an anchor. 

Thom and I went below, and the cousins (who are in their twenties and very chill guys) played some cards with my kid to keep her busy. 

We localized the problem to the water pump, which I've learned is pretty much the go to culprit. We took off the hoses and pump, after determining that it was further than the intake hose or strainer. The impeller find all looked good and were pliable so the usual broken fin wasn't the issue. 

Unsure how much time we had to test things, we had also called BoatUS, which is the AAA of the water. And just like AAA, they estimated an hour before rescue. Amazingly, our position in the estuary stayed relatively the same. And while Thom and I discussed possible issues,Phil's Vessel Assist arrived. Another amazing thing is that other than sheer abuse of the system, BoatUS has no limit on tows or rescues. Well worth the expense--more so than AAA.

Phil towed us through the two bridge and expertly docked us despite boats on either side of our dock location. Then we called it a day for the boat and hurried to make my daughter's soccer game. 

Then I returned to the boat this morning with Thom, and we got it all figured out. Pulled the pump again and yanked the impeller to learn that the impeller inner ring had somehow disconnected from the rubber fins, so it wouldn't soon. Luckily the previous owner had a replacement impeller and paper gasket on board (I ordered two more of each!). So with another hour on board, the motor fired up and water was expelling out the transom again. Phew. 

(Now, I haven't written about the difficulty in getting the pump bolts off in the first place and my and Thom's idea to start our own YouTube series with tons of swearing and ending with what we expected would be a Yanmar service technician out there finally fixing things. Luckily it didn't come to that.)

I only have photos of the rescue from BoatUS, not the water pump repair. Oh well.

Glow Party Sleepover

My daughter has been anxious for the first sleepover on the boat with a friend, so last Saturday she got her wish. It's winter, and in the Bay Area that still means mostly great weather...but no wind. So we camped out at the dock. 

Which turned out to be a good starter overnighter for me, too, because I learned a couple things. Firstly, our shore power is great, but not for too much at once. It appears we have 20 amps from the house where the dock is, and you can't hope to run a space heater and quick heat water kettle at the same time. After blowing a circuit a couple times and tracing back to two different spots (one at the house and one at the outlet for the extension cable), I know what's what. 

Luckily we brought aboard dinner--pizza and wings--so no power was needed to just eat.

The girls brought a pack of glow bendies for an instant glow party. Again no power needed. Not even an iPad battery was used! Check out the photo if you're not sure what the glow bendies are. 

I also learned that trudging all my camping gear over from the shed at my house to the boat at a different house's dock isn't all that fun. So for $50 or so, I got sleeping bags that can stay aboard Hideaway. And I brought some extra clothes, too. 

I tested the propane grill on the aft transom and it's working but needed a grate, so we got a new one at the hardware store. Thought I'd heat water on that, but the idea of going outside on a chilly morning isn't as nice as staying warm in the cabin. But down there we have an alcohol pressure stove and oven, which frankly intimidates the hell out of me, so I haven't yet tried it. After talking with a few people they all sound confident that we can safely use a small butane canister burner down there (with some hatches open for ventilation) so I have one of those aboard now, too. 

Sleeping on the new cushions turned out good, so that was a little reinforcement of the benefit of that investment in Nov, too. The girls fell asleep at 9, and were up at 5:15 (maybe it was the crew teams going by), but that's cool since I never sleep past 5 or so anyway.  

A good first overnighter. Now I cannot wait to shove off and do this for real somewhere else. 

Proper Dive

Finally, I was able to coordinate with the local recommended diver. This guy is cool. Free dives for all of the services he offers. It means he's a lot quicker and nimble getting right to work when he arrives. So he was in the water and getting the old nut off the prop shaft then the old prop off in no time at all. While our family--including our new pup Ginger--watched from the dock. 

But then we learned that the old prop shaft key would not work in the new Campbell Sailor prop. So the diver went two docks down to do a cleaning on a neighbor's boat while my kid and I visited many marine shops and one great hardware store looking for a 3/16" square bronze key. 

No luck at any of those stops, so we got a file out and clamped the existing key into a locking pliers and then in a jeweler's vice, and went to work. The trick was not to remove enough material and keep it as close to square as possible. A couple hours later, the diver was back and the new, old key worked. 

Didn't get out on the boat yesterday but may do that today. I was able to get the puppy on the boat for the first time while I puttered around. She slept soundly the whole time. Must've been wiped out from all the excitement of the day. 

Then my wife joined me aboard for an evening nightcap. We got to test the wine that comes in stacked cups and it was pretty good. I also tested out the mood lighting of the old oil lamp on board.

All in all a great day, and we never left the dock. Boat ownership is fun even when we're not sailing. 

Winter doldrums and spirits lifted with a new crew member

The Winter isn't really playing along very well. Rain storms a couple weeks ago brought lots of wind. Too much. But then when it isn't storming it hasn't been windy. Except for Christmas and then again on New Year's Eve, which were already busy with other activities. I put a large tarp over the boat and have at least had the excuse to be on the boat a couple times over the holiday break to reattach bungees (some new, stronger ones) since the wind ripped out a few grommets and shredded the cheapo bungees. 

Well, what do you do when you can't sail? 

You buy sailing gear, or better yet receive it as gifts. My wife got me a great Gill foul weather jacket. Nice enough that I can see it being my preferred rain jacket in general. Also got a West Marine gift cert so will do some boot shopping later today. 

What else do you do? 

You expand your crew. Which we did on the 12/29. On the way home from a friend's place in Tahoe, we took at 4 hour detour up North to Red Bluff and visited an amazing Lab breeder, Top Dog Retrievers. They do trained hunting dogs, drug dogs, and service dogs. Our little girl is 16 weeks, had some starter training, and is a very chill pup. She can't really be around other dogs or environments just yet until the Parvo shots take hold. Can't wait to get her onto the boat and acclimatized. In the meantime, here is a photo and video.